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Khir Toyo croaking a new tune for 1Malaysia

Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, who is known to be a champion of the “Malay unity” cause, is now urging the government to open up more of the economy to non-Malays.

The Selangor opposition leader, who had been critical of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) for appointing a non-Bumiputera to head PKNS last year, also wants more government jobs to be given to non-Malays.

In an interview with The Malaysian Insider yesterday, the former Selangor mentri besar said the New Economic Policy (NEP) policy had failed to meet its targets and should be reformulated in line with the prime minister’s 1 Malaysia vision.

He said the measures were necessary if BN wanted to attract lost support from the non-Malay communities and young voters in the next general election.

“Real changes and not window dressing are needed in order for Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia vision to become reality.”

He said in his opinion, 1 Malaysia meant the country belonged to all races and no one should be left out economically.

Dr Mohd Khir also urged the government to open more sub-sectors to non-Malays especially in local authorities and for more government jobs to be set aside for them.

He pointed out that the Indian community was especially in need of help.

“I realised this a bit too late, and only during my fifth year as mentri besar, because I was not told about how bad things were for them.”

He said he only knew something was seriously wrong when informed by the police that 40 per cent of crimes committed involved the Indian community.

He said he was shocked to learn that some estate workers earned between RM400 and RM500 a month only when he visited an estate in Kuala Selangor.

He claimed that he then set aside RM3 million annually for them.

Dr Mohd Khir said the new Najib administration had made a mistake by abolishing the Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Ministry as it could have been reformed and used as a vehicle to develop entrepreneurs among all races.

“Special attention should still be given to Malays but deputy ministers should be appointed to look after the Indian and Chinese communities.”